Teaching Modern Hinduism by Jason D

Teaching About Asian Religions Teaching Modern Hinduism By Jason D. Fuller HINDUISM—ANCIENT OR MODERN? Aryan culture, some elements of later Hinduism can arguably be Textbooks dealing with Asian religions tend to make short work of Mod- traced back to this period. Potential connections between the reli- ern Hinduism. In doing so, they reflect the demands of an academic mar- gion of the Indus Valley peoples and later Hinduism include the ex- ket that places a premium on conciseness. When a teacher is in the istence of a Hindu-like “bathing pool” unearthed within the citadel awkward position of having to introduce students to the dizzying array of Mohenjo-Daro along with sacrificial fire altars and clear indica- of Hindu traditions in a brief amount of time, something has to give. tions of mother goddess worship. Pictographic seals from the Indus What usually gives in discussions of Hinduism is the modern period. Valley may depict an ithyphallic figure seated in yogic posture, sur- Students are therefore denied a complete picture of the tradition. rounded by iconography associated with the later Hindu god Śiva. The neglect of the modern period is understandable but regret- The Early Vedic Period (1500–800 BCE). During this period, the no- table. Even those of us whose scholarly work focuses on the modern pe- madic culture of the Indo-Aryans came to dominate northern India riod tend to avoid confronting it squarely in our comparative Asian along the Gangetic plain. The sacrificial religion of the yajñā (fire religions courses. The historiographical and theoretical issues seem too sacrifice) proliferated as the Vedas were composed. A tripartite di- complex to introduce in a succinct way. Anyone who has taught intro- vision of society into priests, warriors, and commoners reflected ductory comparative courses dealing with Hinduism knows that suffi- the cosmic order of heaven, atmosphere and earth, respectively. The cient confusion arises among students in the consideration of the polytheistic pantheon of gods celebrated in the Vedas included ancient and medieval periods without some treatment of more recent heavenly deities, atmospheric deities, and earthly deities. times, including the twentieth century. The Late Vedic or Upanishadic Period (800–400 BCE). Philosophical The common omission of figures important to the study of mod- and metaphysical texts dominated this period. The issues of world ern Hinduism is lamentable for two reasons. First, an over-emphasis renunciation and liberation (moksa. ) took precedence over the on the ancient Hindu past at the expense of the modern period tends worldly concerns of the Vedic sacrificial religion. The monistic to conceal historical innovations. This can lead students to conclude principle of a unified deity (Brahman), which is identical with the that Hinduism is a static religion that has not changed since ancient individual self (Ātman), superseded the earlier polytheistic model. times. Second, it is precisely the modern period that many students Attaining liberation from the bondage of karma and worldly en- find most interesting. trapment (samsāra) through mystical knowledge became the goal If one pays too little attention to the modern period, one runs the of religious practice. risk of denying students the opportunity to make fruitful connections The Epic and Classical Periods (400 BCE–600 CE). As the Indo- between modern Hinduism and alternative trajectories of modernity in Aryans consolidated power along the Gangetic plain and settled into other socio-historical contexts. Many of the issues with which students towns and cities, they composed the great epic poems of The Ma- wrestle in other disciplines—gender, race, class, colonialism, national- habharata and The Ramayana. The epics told the stories of political ism, science and religion, religious conflict, pluralism, death-of-god rivalries and regal heroes in the construction of the great imperial philosophy—are especially germane to the study of modern Hinduism. kingdoms of northern India. The idea of a religious life rooted in ad- This makes the study of the period an especially valuable component herence to the duties (dharma) of social class (varna. ) and life stage of an integrated liberal arts education. (āśrama) developed as an alternative path to the renunciatory tradi- An investigation of the modern period can make Hinduism come tions of the Upanishads. The Bhagavad-Gita emerged from The Ma- alive for those who might otherwise see it as a subject disconnected habharata as a particularly compelling synthesis of religious elements from the rest of their humanistic education. Even though the Vedas, circulating around the time of the birth of Jesus. Upanishads, and Bhagavad-Gita are universally recognized as world The Medieval Period (600–1800 CE). This period witnessed the me- masterpieces, the study of Hinduism transcends the study of traditional teoric rise in the popularity of personified deities such as the four texts. Hinduism has a vibrant modern life, and its study is relevant to armed Vis.nu. (Vishnu) reclining on the serpent of time in an ocean a wide range of contemporary concerns. of chaos, the elephant-headed Ganeśa with his potbelly and broken tusk, and the Goddess in her alternately ferocious and loving forms. wHEN DIDTHE MODERN PERIOD BEgIN? New devotional poems in Sanskrit and vernacular languages, along Before any serious consideration of Hindu modernity can be under- with tantric literature, developed at the same time that Hindu philo- taken, the question of temporal definition must be addressed. Ap- sophical thought was systematized into the six traditional schools. proaching the modern period of Hinduism is complicated by the fact The tenor of the period was shaped by the arrival and influence of that debates among specialists on exactly when time periods in the de- Islam, particularly from the thirteenth century onward. velopment of Hinduism begin and end make the historical waters The Modern Period (1800 to the Present). The modern period has murky. Nevertheless, the following general schema is widely accepted: been characterized by increasing exposure to—and engagement The Indus Valley Period (2500–1500 BCE). Although there are clear with—“the West,”first in the form of British colonization and then by discontinuities between the Indus Valley Civilization and the later the rise of Hinduism as a major world religion. The early phase of 42 EDUCATION ABOUT ASIA Volume 15, Number 2 Fall 2010 Teaching About Asian Religions The event that had the greatest impact on the self-understanding of Hindus in recent times was the arrival of the first vernacular missionary press to the Baptist Mission in Serampore, on the outskirts of Calcutta, in 1800. Soon after 1800, vernacular and English-language presses began to proliferate exponentially in India. The coming of the press inaugurated a period of socio-religious reform, revival, and renewal the likes of which had never been seen in the his- tory of Hinduism. So profound were the religious changes that Photo of the Baptist Mission Press c. 1975 by Bernard Ellis. swept across India in the nineteenth century that the period is Image source: The Baptist Mission Press Web site at http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/baptmisspress/bmp-bernardellis.jpg. commonly referred to as the “Hindu Renaissance.” A short time after the introduction of the printing press to Bengal, a modern development in the nineteenth century was defined by the Hindu intelligentsia emerged to create and populate new schools and reform and revival movements of the “Hindu Renaissance” that were colleges. The rise of print culture in nineteenth century India accom- prompted and/or enabled by British political and economic domi- panied the rapid expansion of literacy rates and the development of nance in India. The later phase of modern development, from the voluntary societies, debating clubs, and salons. The proliferation of second half of the twentieth century onward, has been distinguished newspapers, periodicals, and novels fostered active civic engagement. by the international exchange of ideas, practices, and people. Hindus began to organize publicly in order to take control of repre- The event that had the greatest impact on the self-understand- sentations of Hinduism. Through the use of the press and voluntary ing of Hindus in recent times was the arrival of the first vernacular organizations, Hinduism became part of the modern public sphere. In missionary press to the Baptist Mission in Serampore, on the out- the process, the power to define Hinduism shifted from traditional re- skirts of Calcutta, in 1800. Although a handful of functioning ligious specialists to the modernizing intellectuals who were most con- presses had existed in India before this date (first in the hands of the versant with the new colonial idioms of the Enlightenment. Portuguese and then the British), it was not until the establishment Colonialism, Westernization, Protestantization, and moderniza- of the Serampore press that the culturally transformative potential tion came to India in a bundle at the turn of the nineteenth century. of the vernacular press and print capitalism was truly recognized. Hindu responses to the challenges and opportunities posed and enabled by modernity roughly approximated parallel reactions to nine- wHAT’S SO“MODERN”ABOUT MODERN HINDUISM ANYwAY? teenth century modernism in Europe and America. Reactions can be The modernity of the type of Hinduism that began in the early nine- plotted along

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